The present invention relates to certain improvements in a box support as shown in prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,967. In such prior patent there is illustrated a two part telescoping strut for supporting an electrical box or like device in a studded wall. The strut includes an outwardly opening V-shape horizontal groove which facilitates the horizontal positioning and alignment of such boxes. The driving of a fastener from the box through the crotch of the V-shape groove not only aligns the box but also secures the two horizontally adjustable parts of the strut together.
Unfortunately electrical boxes come in two separate depths which requires different spacing or set back of the strut from the edges of the studs for each box depth size. Therefore, a customer or installer would require different types of struts for different box depths even though the only difference in the struts would be a difference in the rebent ends or flanges by means of which the strut parts are secured to the studs. Also, because of the factory prebent nature of the parts enabling the parts to be nested for compact shipping, the struts could not readily be secured to the interior of a typical channel shape metal stud. Prebent flanges for one type of stud mounting make it difficult if not impossible to mount the strut in any other fashion. This problem has created shipping and inventory problems for customers which required field selection of the right strut for the right box, and for the right stud mounting application. This problem was accentuated by the fact that the prior art strut utilized two readily separable parts, and sometimes required preassembly depending on stud spacing.
It would therefore be desirable to have a strut having the alignment and box securing advantages of the noted prior art strut, but which did not have to be assembled from readily separable parts, and which could quickly be field formed to accommodate the box depth, while at the same time could be readily mounted to any interior or exterior surface of a metal stud, or the exterior of a wood stud.